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Sunday, January 3, 2016

One great way to practice your values is to put your
money where your mouth is. We often default to the idea that the best way to make a difference in the world is to donate money to someone else
who is making a difference. While that is a great way, there is another. That
is to use the money we spend every day to make purchases from companies that
align with our values. Economists call this buying power. You and I have the
power to support companies that are ethical and to avoid those that are not. I
strive to whenever possible. The best part is I don’t have to be rich to spend
thousands of dollars every year supporting great causes! Of course we all would
love to donate thousands to this or that non-profit. And when we can spare to
donate to those we should. But we can also support ethical businesses with the
thousands we spend every year on necessities.

You are probably thinking I am going to suggest we all
shop at Whole Foods. While that would be nice, I too would not have enough
money left to put gas in the car if I did that. So I propose that we start by
avoiding the worst businesses. Of course no business is perfect. You
could probably find dirt on any business out there. So I have arrived at two conclusions.
One is that if a business repeatedly shows up as one of the most unethical than
I will do my best to avoid it. And two is that if a business takes a stand for
something I can get behind then I will shop there over other businesses if I
can afford it.

In the articles linked below you can see why I have
decided to avoid Wal-Mart as much as possible. Article
1 is perhaps the most unbiased review of Wal-Mart I have come across. There
are two presenters in the article. I think that the first presenter doesn't consider the whole picture and therefore agree with the second that shopping at
Wal-Mart has many unethical practices. Of course similar arguments could be raised to show that
shopping at most any chain store is unethical. So I think it is important to
pick stores that are close to an ideal. Those ideals may turn out to be somewhat different for each person. At the very least it is important to support stores that have
practices you agree with.

I try to shop Wal-Mart as little as possible. Sometimes it is unavoidable. But I try to support better businesses. Kroger
is not perfect either. But I think it is a better alternative-- closer to my
ideals. So that is where I shop for most of my food. Article
2 demonstrates Kroger’s very strong commitment to customer service. It is better than I have experienced at Wal-Mart. Kroger will take request from customers for
products to stock. I have personal experience with this. They stopped carrying
an item I really liked and could find nowhere else. I asked them to bring it
back and within a month they restocked it.

Article
3 shows that Kroger is on track to be the biggest organic seller in the
nation. It highlights this and other ways Kroger tries to put the customer first.
Article 4 is a ranking by Green America of ethical grocery stores. Kroger is in
the red but it is two slots above Wal-Mart, which is at the bottom. As
I mentioned above the least one can do is go with the more ethical
alternative.

As for price, Wal-Mart may always be king. But with
Kroger’s rewards plan I have found that overall, Kroger is not much more
expensive than Wal-Mart. Article
5 is not really a judge of ethics. It is a ranking based on customer
satisfaction and likeliness to recommend the store. Kroger comes in at 7 out of
14 with 14 being, yep, Wal-Mart.

Buying organic non-GMO food is another way to buy
ethically. Many organic food brands are also fair-trade certified. Of course
this can get really expensive so check out the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen. This is
a list by EWG.org of 12 produce items you should buy organic and 15 items that
are safest to buy non-organic based on levels of pesticides etc. Article
7 is another ethical list of which Wal-Mart is at the bottom. ASDA is the
name for Wal-Mart as listed in this ranking. Article
8 is a report about seafood sales. Wal-Mart ranks a few spaces higher than
Kroger. This was surprising to me. But no store is perfect. Kroger was one of
the biggest sellers of non-sustainable seafood. However I don’t eat any seafood
as a vegan so this was not a major issue for me.

There are of course plenty of other stores besides
Kroger. I noticed that Aldi pops up in a few of these articles. I noticed it
scoring high in my research. In fact in several price comparisons like this
it ranked cheaper than Wal-Mart. They sell organic food too. Publix is another great
option. And your local produce/farmer’s market is always a great option.

As for other
areas, I like to shop at Goodwill a lot. Everything they sell is
"recycled" and they provide jobs and training to the underprivileged. An option for pharmacy and such items is CVS. Their
employee reviews are ranked similar to Walgreens. However they recently made a commitment
to stop selling all tobacco products in their stores because they are
unhealthy. They took a large profit loss but felt it was worth it. This is something my wife
and I feel is important so we shop there for many items.

You can even be ethically conscious about where you keep
your money! U.S. Bank has been repeatedly ranked among
the most ethical businesses in the world. However, Bank of America is kind of
like Wal-Mart, it should be avoided when possible. See this article
but be warned it is somewhat explicit, or just do a Google search. Of course
topping all the lists of ethics and sustainability is the clothing company
Patagonia.

I encourage you to do your own research and come to your
own conclusions. I have provided a good amount here to begin. You don't
necessarily have to spend more money. For example, switching banks shouldn't
cost. And who knows, you may even save money. Either way you can sleep better
at night when you know you are contributing thousands of dollars every year
toward good causes!

Person
with many, many children enters carrying a large wallet of pictures.

Sarah:Wow,
you have so many children!

Person w/ many children: Yes that is all you need in life.
Children to make you laugh and take care of you when you get old. I have 5000.
Would you like to see? (drops huge pile of accordion wallet pictures)

Sarah: Wow. But how do you feed them and remember all their
names? That seems impossible.

Person w/ many children: I don’t. (walks on)

Narrator: Next Sarah met the man with the most knowledge in
the world.

Person
w/ most know. (enters with his noise in a book and runs into Sarah and falls on
the floor and says) Hey watch where your going. Don’t you know who I’m the
person with the most knowledge in the world?!

Sarah:Sorry
but you ran into me.

Person w/ most know: No, don’t you think I would know if I
ran into you? I do know more than you! (Person walks on)

Sarah:Mr.
Narrator?

Narrator: Um, yes Sarah?

Sarah:I
don’t think having kids will make me totally happy in life. Also I don’t think
knowing everything is it either, especially if you don’t have the wisdom to use
knowledge or manors. Can I go to the bathroom now?

Narrator: You are right Sarah, and not quite. (to audience)
Next Sarah met a Person who didn’t seem to have anything.

Person
with nothing enters (and goes to Sarah hugs her and says) You look like you
needed a hug.

Sarah: Um…thanks but Im not available.

Person w/ nothing: No, no that’s not what I meant. I mean
from a friend who cares. Everyone can always use a friend.

Sarah:Oh,
well you can’t have enough to give everyone.

Person w/ nothing: Well not alone. But with Jesus in my
heart I never run out because he is the source of all love.

Sarah:What
if other people don’t love you back?

Person w/ nothing: That’s ok. My Creator and friend, Jesus,
share with each other and still have enough to share with everyone.

Sarah:Wow,
that sounds like something I want, a true treasure no one can take!

Person w/ nothing: It is! (walks off)

Sarah:Mr.
Narrator?

Narrator: Yes, Sarah?

Sarah:I
love everyone in the world (giggles).

Narrator: Um…ok…but I think you should practice your wording
before sharing your treasure.

"Growing up I always live in the shadow of my older brother
Matthew and twin sister Lydia. Matthew always got good grades. Lydia was so
artistic. And me, I wasn’t good at anything, so they got all the attention.
Matthew grew up to become a successful tax collector. Lydia met and married a
rich clothing merchant from Thyatira. I still lived at home when he came to
town. I’m talking about Jesus, the one that supposedly healed all those people.
I didn’t believe it of course. Until one day Matthew came to the house saying
we had to come meet this man who was changing people’s lives!

After following him for a month or so, this popular teacher
asked me to be his follower! I wasn’t sure if he was actually the Messiah or
not, but I was happy to be chosen as a special student of this popular teacher.
I ran all the way home to tell my parents I had finally succeeded at something.
But of course, Matthew was already there telling them how Jesus had asked him
to be a follower also. But I didn’t care. I had the chance to find out for
myself if this Jesus really was the promised Messiah as he claimed!

I followed him everywhere for the next three years, until
the unthinkable happened. Jesus was captured and killed by his enemies.It was horrible. But then a few days
later all the other disciples started telling me they had seen Jesus alive,
back from the dead. I knew people don’t come back from the dead, so I told them
that unless I saw him myself and felt his scars, I wouldn’t believe it.

Well that was a silly thing to do. Jesus knew what I had
said, and decided to play a trick on me. He appeared in the middle of a locked
room with all the other disciples present and said, “see me for yourself, feel
my scars, I am alive!” I was dumbfounded, I couldn’t deny it anymore. All I
could say was, “My Lord and my God!” What I learned is that hearing about Jesus
is not nearly as meaningful or life-changing as experiencing him for myself. I
encourage you to ask Jesus to let you experience him for yourself."

Sunday, May 3, 2015

I created this workbook or worksheet for completing the Pathfinder Orienteering Honor when I taught it. I am sharing it free here for anyone to download and use to teach this honor. Or you can use it to just learn about orienteering! Also a great homeschool project! There are answers if you scroll down in the document. It is set up to be a student copy and instructor copy. Print out just the blank worksheet for the student copy and the section with answers for the instructor copy.

I created this workbook or worksheet for completing the Pathfinder Geocaching Honor when I taught it. I am sharing it free here for anyone to download and use to teach this honor. Or you can use it to just learn about geocaching!